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M.T.A. Approves Big Service Cuts in Mass Transit

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority approved a punishing slate of service cuts on Wednesday that would amount to the most significant erosion of New York City’s transit system since its recovery from the ruinous days of the 1980s.

The cuts represent some of the first concrete consequences of a fiscal crisis in New York State that until now had mostly been restricted to ominous words from politicians.

The authority’s board unanimously approved the plan — which includes eliminating the W and Z subway lines, reducing service on dozens of bus routes, and phasing out free fares for students — to cope with a $400 million shortfall in state financing that emerged in the past two weeks.

“The M.T.A. has become the first state agency to face the music of the national economic collapse,” said Assemblyman Richard L. Brodsky, a Westchester Democrat. “This is the opening refrain of a full symphony of pain that’s going to hit other parts of the state next year.”

None of the cuts will take effect until the spring, and the plan’s more controversial elements have to be approved again next year, opening the door to months of public hand-wringing and political brinkmanship. Many public officials, for example, have vowed to preserve free rides for students. But any restoration of service cuts would probably require an influx of new revenue. That reality — accompanied by pressure from politicians, riders and parents — resurrected talk of ideas once thought politically untenable, like placing tolls on the free East River bridges.

The plan also brought a sense of déjà vu. A nearly identical slate of cuts was avoided earlier this year after a similar public outcry and a last-minute bailout from Albany legislators.

But officials insisted on Wednesday that this time was different. The state is staring at a $6.8 billion deficit, and Gov. David A. Paterson has already announced a delay on payments to schools and property owners.

“I don’t want to leave any impression that we’re going to magically find a set of service changes that don’t have a major impact,” said Jay H. Walder, the chairman of the transportation authority.

Still, even the chairman acknowledged that in the murky world of municipal politics, there was always some wiggle room.

“This is the beginning, not the end,” Mr. Walder said, moments before the budget was approved 12 to 0. He later added, “We may be able to look at it, we may be able to do it a little bit better, and I, at least on a personal basis, would like a little bit of time and space to see how we might do that.”

In its current form, the budget would reduce bus and subway service during late nights, weekday afternoons and weekends. Service on dozens of bus lines would be reduced or ended, and the agency would cut transportation options for disabled riders. Although the W and Z lines would be eliminated, passengers on those routes would not be abandoned: both lines run along tracks served by other subway routes.

The authority also plans to lay off 700 workers, reduce management salaries by 10 percent and trim administrative costs. No fare increase was included in the plan, although a 7.5 percent rise is scheduled for 2011.

Photo

Jay H. Walder, chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, said the agency needed to use public money more wisely.Credit
Michael Appleton for The New York Times

The plan to phase out free or discounted fares for students, which the authority said would eventually save $170 million annually, earned a particularly fierce reaction on Wednesday, even by the standards of an agency that is a traditional target of New Yorkers’ complaints.

“You sit here and bring anxieties to young children,” declared Councilman Charles Barron, as he addressed the board in the fifth-floor boardroom of the authority’s Madison Avenue headquarters. “What do you want them to do? Jump the turnstiles and turn them into criminals?”

Scott Stringer, the Manhattan borough president, chastised the authority’s board for engaging in “a budget dance that is quickly becoming known as the hustle.” Another speaker compared the agency to Ebenezer Scrooge.

While the board members acknowledged that the cuts were painful, they directed blame squarely at a state government that they said had failed its responsibility to adequately finance a basic public service.

“This agency is in an abusive relationship with two deadbeat dads,” said Doreen M. Frasca, an appointee of Governor Paterson, referring to Albany and City Hall, which provide most of the authority’s financing.

“If the Legislature and the governor think these deep service cuts are not going to impact them in an election year, they are sadly mistaken,” said Andrew Albert, the chairman of the New York City Transit Riders’ Council.

Earlier this month, the authority appeared confident it could end the year on steady financial ground. Mr. Walder, who began his job in October, had laid out a lofty agenda of high-tech arrival-time clocks and a computerized fare-card system.

That optimism vanished after Albany delivered a double-whammy: $143 million was cut from the authority’s budget, and revenues from a dedicated payroll tax — enacted in the spring to avert service cuts — came in $100 million below expectations. Last week, a court ruled that the authority must also pay big raises to its unionized workers.

So it was with some surprise that Mr. Walder found himself on Wednesday delivering a sober assessment of the authority’s shortcomings.

“In the two months that I’ve been here, it’s apparent to me that we don’t operate in a way that ensures that every taxpayer dollar that we receive is being used as effectively as possible,” he said. “In short, we need to take the place apart.”

While Mr. Walder said he would seek savings by trimming overtime payments and material costs, the authority’s overall finances remain at the whims of higher powers. The governor can choose to restore or withdraw funds in his revised budget next month. And swings in the housing market would play a big role, since the authority derives much of its revenue from taxes on real estate transactions.

Speaking to reporters this week, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg invoked his ill-fated congestion pricing proposal, which would have charged people to drive in parts of Manhattan, as an elegant solution to the authority’s troubles. The idea was echoed by transit advocates, even as the program’s supporters speculated that the mayor had simply been speaking off the cuff.

Asked about the plan on Wednesday, Governor Paterson said he had no specific plans to revive the issue next year.

“This parade of horribles puts pressure on Albany,” said Gene Russianoff, staff attorney for the Straphangers Campaign, a riders’ advocacy group. “What Albany does in response to that pressure is hard to predict.”

A version of this article appears in print on December 17, 2009, on page A1 of the New York edition with the headline: M.T.A. Approves Big Service Cuts In Mass Transit. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe